Lugano not Zurich
One week after they first arrived in Frankfurt, Irene issued instructions on Friday, 16 February to Deutsche Bank to send her documents to UBS Lugano with her specific remark "not Zurich". This distinction as to branches is very important, as we shall see later on.
With this instruction, Irene made sure that UBS Lugano would receive from Deutsche Bank Dusseldorf the necessary bank documents needed for the funds transfer.
Here is a copy of her instructions:
Where's the money?
But on Tuesday, 20 February, Greggy Araneta, who had been given the power of attorney to act on behalf of Irene, sent instructions to UBS Lugano, cancelling Irene's 14 February instructions for transferring funds. He also instructed the bank to keep the UBS account open.
Here is a copy of his instructions:
Why did Greggy cancel Irene's earlier instruction?
If you look at the above document, Greggy wrote Irene's name as the issuer of the instruction to cancel the transfer of funds from UBS, using Deutsche Bank's standard instruction form, yet at the bottom, the signature was that of Greggy's - Why did he forget to give the form to Irene for signature? Did Irene and Greggy panic and the error demonstrate the confusion that reigned over the weekend?
What had happened was that on the previous Thursday, 15 February, the Deutsche private banker told Reyes, Irene's lawyer, that UBS Zurich had not responded to Deutsche's message regarding Irene's account 885931. The private banker theorized that this was probably because the letter issued by Irene on 14 February to close the UBS account was sent to UBS Zurich and not UBS Lugano.
Thus, on the next day, Friday, 16 February, Irene issued a written instruction, written on Deutsche Bank's form, requesting the German Bank to send her Deutsche documents and banking account details to UBS in Lugano. The instruction was actually written by Greggy but signed by Irene.
That same day, Greggy attempted to open a corporate account with Deutsche Bank but failed because a few necessary documents were missing. After clarifying on Friday, 16 February, with Deutsche Bank that the account was with UBS Lugano, Irene and Greggy expected the funds to be transferred with German efficiency by Monday.
Monday came but no Swiss money came in.
Ordinarily, an account holder would not mind a day or two of delay, especially since the transaction involved cross-border transfers. But not Irene and Greggy. Were they paranoid that something had gone wrong?
Were the American facilitators worried that they had failed to realize the importance of having a friendly UBS banker that could facilitate the transfer from the Swiss end, just as they had put one in place at the German end?
The next day, Tuesday, 20 February, Greggy phoned Deutsche Bank asking if he could get back the special power of attorney that Irene signed in his favor. This was the only documentary evidence that links him to this entire deal. But the bank refused to do so.
Was Greggy now even more worried that the deal had gone sour? Was it because they sensed this, and at the same time knowing how sensitive Irene's transaction was, that the group decided to halt the execution of Irene's instructions, go back to Manila for a few weeks, and come back at a later date?
Both Irene and Greggy went to the bank later that morning and requested the Deustche Bank officer to cancel their earlier instructions to close the UBS account and to transfer the funds to Germany.
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